She's a Real Namechanger

Boaters are very superstitious. There are certain words you should never say on a boat - "sink" is a good example. It's bad luck to have bananas on a boat - I may be superstitious but I can't follow this one, I like bananas too much. Perhaps the most well known belief is that it is bad luck to change the name of a boat.

So, what is a boater to do when they purchase a used boat and don't like the name or have a name that they wish to continue from boat to boat? Simple, complete the name changing ritual. Here are the quick easy steps to follow -- Wait! Sorry, it's not that simple. There are a million different "correct" rituals to follow. Instead, do your research, talk to friends, and choose the pieces that make the most sense to you.

The name changing ceremony according to Julie:

1. Take the boat out of the slip and anchor somewhere away from your marina.
2. Use a hair dryer to heat the old lettering and a scraper to carefully remove the old name.
3. Watch numerous police boats go by laughing at you as you slave away at this process. Why so many police boats? The Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race was happening the same day and they were patrolling the area around the water portion of the race. (I didn't actually see anyone laughing at us but it sure felt that way.)
4. Take a moment to celebrate the completion of an arduous task.
5. Write the old name of the boat on a piece of paper and fold the paper into an origami boat.
6. Grab a bottle of wine and pour three glasses. I used a bottle that I had won at a wine night at Sorso's Café. Sorso's is at our new marina- and it's a fabulous place - check it out. Some people use champagne, I chose to use a bottle with a connection to our home marina.

7. Put the origami boat in the water and set it on fire.
8. Make a toast to Neptune, God of the Sea, asking him to take the old name back and please bless the boat with the new name.
9. Give an offering of an entire glass of wine to Neptune.
10. Each of you then gets to enjoy the wine in the other two glasses.
11. Make sure there are no pictures of the old name (which is why there are very few pictures in this post) and never speak the name again.
12. Return to port as a new boat.

The main blog photo has been updated with a picture of the boat with her new name. I'll post the details of that process within a couple days -- this time there are lots of pictures.